[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 34 (Wednesday, February 28, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S2365]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. AKAKA:
  S. 714. A bill to amend the Animal Welfare Act to ensure that all 
dogs and cats used by research facilities are obtained legally; to the 
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Pet 
Protection Act of 2007. In 1966, Congress passed the Animal Welfare Act 
to prevent the abuse and mistreatment of animals and to provide 
assurance that family pets would not be sold for laboratory 
experiments. Although the Animal Welfare Act provides a solid 
foundation to stop the mistreatment of animals, more needs to be done 
to protect pets and pet owners from the actions of Class B animal 
dealers, also known as ``random source'' dealers.
  Across the Nation, random source animal dealers acquire tens of 
thousands of dogs and cats, many of them family pets, through deceit 
and fraud. Some of their tactics include tricking animals owners into 
giving away their dogs and cats by posing as someone interested in pet 
adoption and the outright theft of family pets left unattended. The 
treatment of the animals captured and sold by random source dealers is 
often shocking and cruel. Hundreds of animals are kept in squalid 
conditions with just enough food and water to keep them alive until 
sold.
  This bill does not address the larger issue of whether animals should 
or should not be used in research facilities. Medical research is one 
of our primary weapons in the discovery of new drugs and surgical 
techniques that help develop cures for life-threatening diseases and 
animal research has been, and continues to be, a fundamental part of 
scientific advances. Instead, this legislation targets the unethical 
practice of selling stolen pets and stray animals to research 
facilities. While I do not believe that research laboratories 
intentionally seek out fraudulently obtained animals, it does happen. 
And it does need to be stopped.
  My bill will strengthen the Animal Welfare Act by prohibiting the use 
of random source animal dealers as suppliers of dogs and cats to 
research laboratories by making funds unavailable to research 
facilities that purchase animals from a dealer that holds a Class B 
license under the Animal Welfare Act. In doing so, it also 
simultaneously encourages the use of legitimate sources such as USDA-
licensed Class A dealers. I urge my colleagues to join me in my efforts 
to curb the abusive practices of random source dealers by supporting 
this bill.
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